Caeden
(CAY-den) Caeden is a young man from Desriel who has been accused of murdering his family and many people in his village. He does not remember any of his past up until just after the attacks, and does not know if he is guilty or not. He is capable of using both Kan and Essence, but has no Mark and is not bound by the Four Tenets. Appearance Caeden is slender with shoulder length reddish-brown hair. He is a couple of years older than Wirr and Davian, perhaps around 19 years old. Biography Arrest and Rescue Caeden does not remember anything before he woke up in the middle of a forest in Desriel, holding a sword, with a wolf tattoo his arm, and covered in blood. He wandered to another village, where he heard that his village had been wiped out. Many believe Caeden was a survivor, but he was placed under arrest just in case he was involved. Suspicion against him gradually mounted until one man whose wife had been killed attacked Caeden, and he reacted by instinct, using the Gift and accidentally killing the man. After this, Caeden was sentenced to hang by the Gil'shar. After his arrest, Caeden was going to be taken to Thrindar to be publicly executed by the dogmatic, anti-Gifted Gil'shar. However, Wirr and Davian--who had been led to Caeden by the bronze vessel given to them by Ilseth Tenvar--help Caeden escape custody. Wirr and Davian are surrounded by Desrielite soldiers shortly after freeing Caeden, but the soldiers are then killed by one of the sha'teth. The sha'teth'' ''is about to kill Davian, Wirr, and Caeden as well, but Caeden is able to rebuff it, immediately thereafter collapsing. Taeris arrives right after Caeden saves them from the sha'teth and uses a travel stone to transport them to village. Return to Andarra Taeris tells Caeden, Wirr, and Davian that he had been tracking Caeden because he believes Caeden is somehow connected to the weakening of the Boundary in the north. Taeris wants to take Caeden back to Ilin Illan to restore his memories because Caeden and the bronze box both have the mark of the Boundary (a wolf) on them, and Taeris believes the Boundary is weakening and Aarkein Devaed is going to return. Taeris decides that they will go to Thrindar to seek amnesty from the Andarran nobility attending the Song of Swords. Taeris is able to get an audience with Princess Karaliene of Andarra through his friend Nihim, and during their audience it becomes clear that Princess Karaliene and Wirr know each other. Princess Karaliene says that she cannot take Caeden and his companions back to Andarra with her because the political fallout if he is discovered at he border would be too great. She instead sends Aelric and Dezia Shainwiere with the group to find another way out of Desriel. During their journey back to Andarra, Caeden realizes that he has skills beyond his own understanding. He is able to kill the sha'teth named Aelrith, he is able to defeat Aelric Shainwiere in a duel (who is supposedly one of the best swordsmen in the world), and he knows the streets of the long-abondoned city of Deilannis. He also has several visions/dreams along the way back to Andarra, although he can't quite piece together who he is based on these visions. He is called Tal'kamar by the sha'teth and people in his visions. In one of his "visions", Caeden meets a man named Alaris who tells him that they are old friends and that he cannot trust his companions. Alaris tells Caeden that if Taeris, Wirr, and the Shainweires knew who he was, they would kill him. Alaris also instructs Caeden to meet up with a merchant named Havran Das in Ilin Illan to get back in contact with him. In Ilin Illan Once they reach Ilin Illan, Taeris takes Caeden to the Athian Council to ask if they can restore Caeden's memory. The Council refuses to restore Caeden's memory, so Taeris and Caeden stay in the Palace to wait and see if Princess Karaleine can help pressure the Council to help Caeden. They both feel that Aarkein Devaed must be behind the invasion of the Blind and that it is therefore urgent that Caeden's memories (possibly regarding the weakening of the Border) be restored. Despite Princess Karaleine's express orders to wear a Shackle and stay on the palace grounds, Caeden is able to remove his Shackle and enter the town to seek out Havran Das. Caeden only just starts to speak with Havran Das when he is attacked. He seems about to kill Havran Das in retaliation when he hears Princess Karaliene being attacked outside, and leaves to rescue her from five Blind soldiers. During his fight with the soldiers, Caeden shows an advanced control of Essence and kan. Although Kara had mistrusted Caeden before, her attitude towards him changes considerably after he rescues her and returns her to the palace without demanding any kind of reward. She and Caeden develop a close friendship, and Caeden begins to have romantic feelings for her. The Defense of Ilin Illan When the Blind attack, Taeris and Caeden use a Travel Stone to go into Administration's collection of Vessels as a last ditch effort to restore Caeden's memory. While there, Caeden sees the bronze box that guided Davian to find him in the first place. Against Taeris' protestations, Caeden touches the box and enters the resulting portal. The portal takes him to the a massive network of caverns with rivers of lava flowing throughout. He eventually finds his way to the sword Licanius, guarded by the Lyth named Garadis. He is able to take Licanius because he has come to the caverns to help his friends, not to take Licanius. Garadis suggests that Caeden erased his memories on purpose so that he would be able to take Licanius. Garadis also informs Caeden that, since taking Licanius, he has one year and a day to find a way to free the Lyth from Res Kartha or Licanius will be theirs. Upon retrieving Licanius, Caeden immediately returns to Ilin Illan, where his former companions are close to losing the battle against the Blind. Caeden uses Licanius to destroy the Blind army and rescue his friends. He then is about to leave to the next place set on the bronze box (which has pre-set locations to which Caeden can teleport), when Davian demands that he tell them what is going on. Caeden refuses, saying that he does not have time to explain, and Davian unsuccessfully attempts to keep Caeden from leaving by draining his reserve. It is then that Davian realizes how immensely powerful Caeden is. Recovery of Caeden's Memory SERIOUS SPOILER TERRITORY. SERIOUSLY, DON'T READ THIS UNTIL YOU'VE FINISHED THE ENTIRE FIRST BOOK, INCLUDING THE EPILOGUE Caeden teleports to the next location on the bronze box and it takes him to the Wells of Mor Aruil. There, a man named Tae'shadon tells Caeden that he was instructed to restore some of Caeden's memories, but not all. Tae'shadon says that he believes Caeden didn't want all of his memories because he wanted to change who he was. Caeden asks to receive his memories from right before he lost his memory, when he was accused of murdering his family, first. Caeden remembers the murder of the villagers, and discovers that he actually killed the man named Caeden and shapeshifted to steal his identity. Unfortunately, Caeden's family discovers him before he can finish hiding Caeden's body, and he is forced to killing the entire family as well as anyone else attracted by the screams. Most importantly, Caeden remembers that he has also been known by the name Aarkein Devaed. Caeden, believing this whole time that Aarkein Devaed was his enemy, is devastated by the news and does not have any of his other memories restored. Tae'shadon then tells Caeden to come find him when he is ready to know more and leaves him alone. Early Life His original name was Lord Tal'kamar Deshrel, and he grew up heir to a place called Caer Lyordas. It is not clear where this place was. On the night of his wedding to a woman named Elliavia, she was lured away by a priest of El and murdered. In response to this, he tried to save her by imbuing her dead body with Essence. In his panic, he drained the Essence from everyone else, killing them. This allowed Nethgalla to escape the Darklands and steal Elliavia's body and memories, and resulted in her obsession with Tal'kamar. Later, Tal'kamar attempts suicide numerous ways and discovers that he can heal almost any injury very quickly. He finally commits suicide in a way that causes his death, but passes through something called the Chamber and is reborn far away. He takes to hunting dangerous animals as a way to make money. While there, a woman who looks and acts like his dead wife comes to find him and claims that she is, in fact, his dead wife. She is not. Her name is Nethgalla, the Ath, and she comes from the Darklands. Another being from the Darklands warns Tal'kamar of Nethgalla's duplicity. They do not part on good terms. Nethgalla continues to stalk and insert herself into Tal'kamar's life in various times and places. Later, he finds the Venerate and is indoctrinated into their group. They continue picking up more members until there are 11 of them, and they try to fight injustice and make things right. Life as Aarkein Devaed Tal'kamar takes on the name of Aarkein Devaed when he is tasked by Shammaeloth to destroy the Shining Lands and end the Darecians in the name of the greater good. Devaed orchestrated an attack of a terrifying caliber that leveled cities and created the Plains of Decay, a place where Essence is drained. Meldier, one of the other Venerate, trapped Devaed in the city as it was being destroyed in order to try and stop Devaed, but the damage was already done. The name Aarkein Devaed translates to "The fate of all that is to come" in the language of the Shalicians, a race of snake-people who use Essence with extreme precision and trained Tal'kamar well into the distant past. Later, Devaed led the invasion on Deilannis to try and use the Jha'vett to "make all things right" according to Shammaeloth's will. However, when he attacked the city, he damaged the Jha'vett. The city itself lit on fire and it created the dense fog that covers Deilannis to this day. At the end of the invasion on Deilannis, a man leaves the place that housed the damaged Jha'vett and claims to have traveled through time to give Devaed advice "from a friend." He introduces himself as Davian. He then proceeds to berate Devaed, insist that Shammaeloth is evil, and hold Devaed accountable for the deaths he had caused in the Shining Lands and before. Devaed decapitates him and mounts his head at the Door of Iladriel, but the encounter leaves him unsettled. He tries to find any indication of who Davian was, but he cannot. The only thing that he can find is a vessel in the shape of a ring. Life as Malshash At some point, Tal'kamar renounces his name as Aarkein Devaed and follows the path that Davian set him upon, which ultimately comes together in Tal'kamar (now Malshash) creating the Orkoth by pulling it from the Darklands and setting it to guard Deilannis. Then, he tries to get Davian from the past to explain to him what he meant, but instead a younger Davian was brought to him via the Jha'vett. Malshash ends up training Davian in how to be an Augur before sending him back to the past. Malshash is shown to have stolen Nethgalla's ability to shapeshift, and he changes shape every day to keep her ability from going back to her. He is revealed to be using the faces of the people he had killed at his wedding to Elliavia in the days when he was Lord Deshrel. Later, Malshash tells Davian that "it was worth it, and it changed me." We now know that he was talking about Davian's self-sacrifice in Deilannis. Malshash is shown to have been in Deilannis around seventy years before Davian was. It is unclear how long he had spent in Deilannis, but it is likely to be around 10 years. Trivia The name Caeden comes from a Darecian fairytale. Caeden is one of the eleven Venerate who serve Shammaeloth. The symbol of the wolf's head is Caeden's symbol, called Tar Anan. Category:Characters Category:Venerate Category:Main Characters Category:Augur Category:Gifted